Day One Results (PDF)

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Alaska Nanook swim team picked up their first dual-meet victory since Jan. 25, 2019 with a 128-71 win over Westmont College on Friday, Mar. 26, 2021. The Nanook swim team moves to 1-0 for their revised 2020-21 season. This win is head coach Cameron Kainer's first with Alaska after being named the Nanooks head coach last year.
 
Day one consisted of 11 events, with Alaska winning eight. The 200-yard medley relay kicked-off the head-to-head meet with the Alaska squad of Erika Kakazu, Whitney McArthur, Oda Bygdnes and Lainey Lioi winning with a time of 1:54.64, almost seven seconds faster than the second place finisher. Tori Shoemaker picked up the first individual win for the Nanooks in event two, running away in the 1000-yard freestyle with a winning time of 11:19.81, four seconds ahead of the second place finisher. In the third event, the 200-yard freestyle, the Nanooks picked up two top-three finishes as Shannon McCallum grabbed second place, two seconds behind the winner with a time of 2:06.67 and Lainey Lioi grabbed third place finish, only .03 behind McCallum with a finishing time of 2:06.70.
 
In the fourth event, the Nanooks owned the pool as only three Alaska swimmer competed. Two finished, as Gabrielle Davy picked up the win with a time of 2:19.41 and Mesa Moran came in second with a time of 2:25.19. Jasmine Cheung was the third racer but ended with a DQ.
 
Event five was the 50-yard freestyle. Whitney McArthur grabbed the win for Alaska, posting a time of 25:59. Bygdnes continued the Nanooks run with another first place finish and another nine team points in the 100-yard freestyle. She finished in first place with a time of 55.26. Lioi joined her in the top-three with a time of 57.30 and third place finish. Kakazu picked up a second place finish in the seventh event, the 200-yard backstroke, with a time of 2:23.29. Caroline McCormick and Tori Shoemaker took first and second in the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:43.35 and 2:44.77 respectively. 
 
The 'Nooks took second, third and fourth in the ninth event, the 500-yard freestyle. Aho took second, McCallum took third and Gabrielle Davy checked-in for fourth place. The Nanooks won the final two events, the 10^th, the 200-yard IM as Bygdnes won another event with a time of 2:15.16, winning by nearly 10 seconds. In the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, a team made-up of Bygdnes, Kakazu, Lioi and McArthur took their eighth and final first place finish with a time of 3:49.25.
 
Coaches Quotes
It was a beautiful day in Santa Barbara today and we had some great swims to go along with it. Great competition from Westmont and so thankful for adding us to their schedule. Proud of our returners for their leadership today and excited about our first year swimmers getting their first meet in. We were pleased with how well everyone adapted to the outdoors and look forward to showing that tomorrow. We've got some things to still adjust for our conference championships but looking forward to finishing out this meet tomorrow. 
 
The Nanook swim team is back in action tomorrow, Saturday, Mar. 27 at Westmont in a tri-team meet as Alaska will take on Westmont College and Loyola Marymount. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. AKT.
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Swimming team page on Facebook.